Penn State recruiting efforts moving a snail's pace

The Nittany Lions have just three verbal commitments so far, but experts say it's not time to panic yet.

Donovan Smith is like a lot of rising high school seniors being targeted by the Penn State coaching staff.

He's a second-tier national prospect, diligent in the classroom, lives in a Nittany Lion recruiting comfort zone (Maryland).

And here's the clincher: He's not expected to announce his college choice any time soon.

Smith, a promising offensive tackle from Owings Mills, has the Lions high on his wish list -- but he wants to absorb the entire recruiting process, which means seeing what other schools have to offer and visiting all of his favorites this fall.

Meanwhile, Penn State, with its thorough, even slow and tedious approach, is staring at only three verbal commitments halfway through the summer.

And two of those came in the past week.

The Lions probably won't ever catch runaway recruiting leaders like Texas and Ohio State come signing day in February. More important is whether or not Penn State's staff can build enough steam to at least finish strong with the class of 2011.

Is it time to panic or simply be patient?

"I think they're in better shape than I thought they were," said Cory James, a recruiting analyst with Scout.com. "It looks like they could go into the season with five (verbal commitments), which is not so bad.

"I will say this (recent) flurry of commitments is not by mistake. Penn State saw what was happening ...

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and didn't want to get stuck with a low number of commitments and turned the heat up on some guys."

And commitment No. 4 could be a big one. New Jersey's Angelo Mangiro -- one of the top guards in the nation -- could well choose the Lions at the end of the month.

Still, the numbers are low. Combine that with an 83-year-old head coach who doesn't make recruiting visits -- and has been ailing from intestinal problems for at least a month now -- and negative whispers grow quickly.

Because no matter how confident the coaching staff may be, this is one of the school's slowest recruiting starts in years.

Until Penn Wood High giant Shawn Oakman gave his commitment a little more than a week ago, the Lions had just one verbal for the class -- the lowest number in the Big Ten and nationally.

It's a stark contrast to other traditional powers such as Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio State and Texas, all of whom have pulled in 10 or more prospects, most of them highly-regarded. That has sent Penn State fans grumbling in high frequency on recruiting message boards.

Even Indiana, a perennial Big 10 afterthought, enjoyed a surprisingly strong start before luring a respectable eight three-star athletes among its 19 verbals.

All had the Lions in their final picks, if not their final two. Each found a reason to go elsewhere.

And that comes after the stunning early miss on Oil City's Ben Koyack, arguably the nation's top tight end, who decided on Notre Dame.

Meanwhile, Penn State's anticipated small scholarship class has seemingly grown by a few spots, maybe up to 18 strong, because of unexpected defections within the program.

No matter, the Lions took their time just getting written scholarship offers in the mail. The staff didn't hit double digits until late March. This for a school who's head coach doesn't recruit on the road and its offensive coordinator (Galen Hall) doesn't recruit at all.

Recruiting opponents such as Pitt and Rutgers, "and the big programs like Florida and Ohio State, they've all been offering much earlier and being much more aggressive," said Mike Farrell, a recruiting analyst with Rivals.com. "And Penn State got behind the eight ball waiting so long."

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So what exactly is going on?

The Lions may have gotten comfortable being ultra-selective with the number of offers handed out over the past few years, said James of Scout.com.

Last year the plan worked well when Pennsylvania boasted a strong crop of recruits, and when the Lions benefited by pursuing stars who had natural Penn State ties.

"This year, there's not too many slam dunks," James said. "Yeah, it's early, but you've got to consider things relatively. It's not early when a quarter of your guys (offered) are not realistic options or have committed elsewhere. You have to (now) see a lot of new offers or guys offered outside of the typical recruiting areas.

"It seems ridiculous to be worried in July," James said. "But the worry is that there's not so many targets."

It also doesn't help that one of the staff's top recruiters, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, has few bodies to even pursue in the usually-loaded Pittsburgh area.

And the Lions have seemingly lost ground in rich New Jersey over the years while it has become tougher to steal top talent out of Ohio since Jim Tressel took over as head coach of the Buckeyes.

Take Savon Huggins, for example. The New Jersey star is one of the elite tailbacks nationally and was offered early by the Lions. They even promised him that he was their top running back target, their only one.

And yet lately Huggins has wondered aloud in articles about getting more attention from Penn State. Others are pressing him harder.

"Penn State has always had their way of doing things," James said. "They offer you and let you know they're interested and then back off. ... Some (recruits) like the attention and some guys don't, but nowadays more guys like the attention."

Smith, the Owings Mills offensive tackle, said he gets the least amount of recruiting mail from Penn State, compared to his other 17 scholarship-offer schools. Most all of his Penn State correspondence, though, are personal, handwritten notes.

"They have a different way of doing things," he said. "Penn State is definitely more thorough with their recruiting. A lot of schools will throw out offers because another schools offers. Penn State sits down and does their homework.

"I can understand it. If you hire somebody for a job you can't just hire anybody. You have to know ... how they play on the field, how they handle themselves off the field, how they handle their school work."

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Certainly, all is not lost.

While Northwestern, Iowa and even Michigan have larger recruiting numbers so far, the talent in those numbers is questionable, at least by the thinking of national experts.

And there is time. Especially since the Lions often snag a player or two who de-commits from their first choice of a school.

Penn State seems in strong shape with a half-dozen recruits, at least in the running for six or seven more.

But the debate goes on.

"Just think if they would have offered Mangiro early?" James said. "Maybe he gets in the ear of (other New Jersey talents). You have to wonder what was going on when most of their recruiting class was finished last October and it took them even longer to get out offers this year."

Said Farrell: "This class easily can be salvaged and become a good class. But now there's a lot less room for error." fbodani@ydr.com; 771-2104

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